To Be with You
by Old Romantic
Summary: Moonlight/Supernatural Crossover. Post 1x10 and 3x07. Mick/Beth. While working on a case, Beth runs into her old college boyfriend, Dean Winchester, and his brother, and discovers that it’s a reunion that might change her life forever.
1. Prologue

**Genre/Ship(s): **Romance/MickBeth with mentions of Beth/Josh and Beth/Dean  
**Timeline/Spoilers: **Takes place post-1x10-Sleeping Beauty and then goes AU, with some mentions of events in 1x11 (Love Lasts Forever) and 1x12 (The Mortal Cure); post 3x07 (Fresh Blood) for _Supernatural_.  
**Betas: auntof3** and **alex-rocks4ever**  
**Disclaimer: **If I'd found a way to make money off of writing fanfiction, I'd buy myself a convertible. ;D

**Summary: **In response to Challenge #1 on MickBeth Fanfiction – mickbeth (dot) fan-sites (dot) org – a _Moonlight/Supernatural _crossover. While working on a case, Beth runs into her old college boyfriend, Dean Winchester, and his brother, and discovers that it's a reunion that might change her life forever.

**A/N: **It's been a while since I've watched _Supernatural_ regularly (I don't own the DVDs yet!), so I'm guessing at a few minor (I think) details and taking some artistic liberties. So if you happen to notice some detail that's off from canon, you'll know why. And feel free to mention the mistakes – if they're fixable without changing the fic too much, I'll do my best to fix them. :)

Enjoy!

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Prologue:

Beth Turner was just finishing up her report from the front of the hospital, hoping that what she was saying was making sense and not too much information. Since she knew the woman who was missing, and in fact, was the very reason that Coraline – or "Morgan Vincent" as she was reporting – had been admitted, having to announce her unusual disappearance to the public was not a comfortable thing. But it was probably better that she did it, so that she could steer all suspicion away from the world of vampires, since she was such good friends with one and didn't want them to be discovered for his sake.

As if conjured up with just a thought of him, Mick St. John appeared in her line of sight, beyond her cameraman, and Beth allowed her eyes to flit to him for just a split second before focusing to finish the job at hand. She was surprised but glad he was there, having not seen him since they parted beside her taxi cab in New York hours before, and with Coraline's sudden disappearing act, she had a lot of questions he might be able to answer.

Satisfied that she did a good enough job as tired as she was, Beth ended her taping as usual with her name and affiliation, and paused as Steve turned off the camera. "Was that okay?" she asked typically, and he nodded.

"Great," he smiled. "Left just enough suspicion to get viewers to tune in again tomorrow."

She chuckled and handed him her mike. "Be sure to get a few shots of the window and the entrance surrounded with cops."

"Will do, Boss."

Beth scooted on past him, feeling her heart rate accelerate slightly as she approached Mick. Although she enjoyed spending time with him, she hated that her body often reacted this way – heart racing, sweaty palms, nervous stomach – all because of the sight of him. But she couldn't stop it, no matter how hard she tried. And believe it, she _tried_, especially since meeting Josef's Sara, and finding out what alternative she had to look forward to if she chose to live with Mick forever.

"Hey there," she attempted to sound casual as she got within earshot. She pointed over her shoulder. "Did you hear my whole report?"

He nodded and smiled warmly. "It sounded great."

She stopped a comfortable distance from him. "I'm sorry that I had to do it, but once Maureen found out about it—"

"It's okay," he interrupted. "It was bound to come out anyway."

She fell into step beside them as they walked away to get a bit of distance from the crowd of reporters, police, and other passersby, and asked, "Do you have any idea what happened to her?"

"No," he admitted. "She was human, so the logical thing to have happened if she got worse was death. I can't imagine why she would want to disappear if she got better. The only alternative is if she—"

"Turned back?" Beth finished for him and he nodded again.

He spoke his suspicions out loud, "Maybe the human cure was only temporary, which would explain why she had to disappear so suddenly."

"Where could she have gone?"

"I don't know," he confessed with a touch of concern in his tone. "I only worry…"

Beth halted her steps and stared at him. "What?" She did fear for a moment that his feelings for Coraline were still as evident as they had been the day that Beth had tried to kill her. His having an attachment to Coraline simply because they'd once been married didn't seem to matter to Beth's jealous heart.

But his thoughts were far from worrying about Coraline's safety and were instead on hers. "She might seek revenge…" he started and she knew where he was going with that statement.

"On me because I stabbed her," Beth finished his thought out loud.

"That's why I came here when I heard that she'd vanished."

"To find her?"

"No, not exactly," he confessed. "To protect you."

Beth's heart warmed at his guarded nature over her, but steeled her resolve even as she smiled assuredly. "I'll be fine."

"Beth, I know you think you can protect yourself, but if Coraline turned back and she's out to get you—"

"Okay," she held up a hand to stop him. They'd covered this kind of ground before, and Beth knew that up against her "guardian angel", she'd lose every time. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't want you alone. Will…Josh be spending the night with you?"

"Uh," she dropped her gaze, missing his discomfort as he asked the question. "No. He's…working," she lied. What she didn't say was that Josh had been waiting for her when she returned home from New York, even though it was midnight. He'd wanted to talk and knew that something had changed in the months since she'd met Mick. She wouldn't confirm it, but she couldn't deny it either, and in the end, she'd confessed to Josh that the love they once had just wasn't there anymore. And within minutes, her longstanding relationship with the assistant D.A. was over, just like that. "I'll be fine by myself," she said to Mick, to hopefully steer the conversation away from Josh so that she wouldn't have to confess what had happened. For some reason she didn't want to explore, she just wasn't ready to reveal that she was now single.

"No," he spoke adamantly. "If you're going to be alone, I want you to stay at my apartment until we find her."

She met his eyes then, and found that he was serious, and was really concerned for well-being in this situation. And having known him long enough, she knew she couldn't argue. "Alright, I'll stop by my place for a few things and meet you there in an hour."

"No, I'll come with you." And by the way he added that, she knew she didn't have a choice.

* * *

Emptying the last tiny bottle of scotch into their hotel's thin paper cup, Dean Winchester mumbled a curse under his breath. "Uh oh, time to leave," he muttered, just as the door opened and his brother, Sam, stepped inside, carrying a small brown paper bag of groceries. Dean waved the empty bottle in the air. "I hope you brought alcohol because we're all out of these little bottles."

Sam shook his head and walked past him to set the bag down on the room's only table. "Nope. We need to keep our heads clear. We have a new lead to follow." He held up a newspaper he'd grabbed from the top of the bag.

"Finally!" Dean shouted unexpectedly. "Some place good, I hope. Preferably somewhere with better cable TV than the crap we've had here." He gestured to the television with fuzzy, gray picture and the rabbit ear antenna sticking out of the back before taking the paper Sam offered.

Dean began searching the headlines for a clue to what story had spurred Sam's interest when his brother offered, "Page ten." While he waited, he pulled a soda can out of the bag and popped the top to have a sip.

Flipping to the page in question, Dean's eyebrows wiggled. "Yes. Oh yeah, I won't mind this at all," he pointed to the paper. "I will totally enjoy investigating every inch of this beauty pageant—"

"Bottom right," Sam rolled his eyes.

"I'm just saying – if we change our minds—"

"We won't," Sam stated firmly. "Right now, we have work to do."

Dean begrudgingly read the headline and a first couple of lines of the story picked up by the Associated Press and wondered, "So what? A woman disappeared from a hospital."

"Read on," he commanded. "_Between _the lines." As Dean read, Sam explained, "Strange blood work, unusual healing, infection, body temperature dropping when she should've been feverish… Come on, Dean."

"Okay, so," he shrugged. "What are you thinking? Witch, demon, vampire?"

"Could be any of those. It's worth checking out."

"And it's in L.A.," Dean added optimistically, "and you could definitely use some sun. You _are_ starting to look a little pasty."

An empty soda can clocked him on the side of the head. But the decision was made: they were headed to the City of Angels.


	2. Part 1

**Part 1:**

For two days, there was no sign of Coraline. Beth would spend every minute with Mick at her side or watching from a safe distance. The only time he felt she was safe was when she was at work around other mortals, but that was only after the first day, when Beth assured him that she would be fine and managed to convince him to leave her so that he could sleep and get a break from the sun. He still wouldn't allow her to spend the night at her apartment when she admitted that she would be alone and made sure that she called him whenever she was about to leave the office. It frustrated her a little bit because she knew he wasn't getting enough rest by worrying about her safety, but there was no convincing him otherwise.

Mick had also come to work with her the first day to follow up on some sightings of Coraline through tips that had been called in to BuzzWire. But there hadn't been any real solid leads. Beth was wondering just how long this was going to go on. She enjoyed the extra time spent with Mick, but she didn't like that it came with so much concern, and she was really looking forward to life as usual.

Walking from the phone operator's office with a few more called-in tips on "Morgan's" possible location, Beth sighed. If only she hadn't been the one assigned with her colleague's disappearance... But it was expected, since they'd been considered friends until she found out the woman's true identity. And in the long run, it was better, since Mick wanted to be informed with any information before the news was made public.

"Beth," Mo stopped her mid-thought and got her attention. "There are a couple of FBI agents in the conference room wanting to question you about Morgan's disappearance," her boss told her.

"Oh, okay," Beth stated suspiciously. _FBI? What in the world would they want with Coraline?_ She pondered the possibilities as she walked toward the room, assuming that they suspected she was the victim of a kidnapping – or maybe something else more sinister – and suddenly recognized the profile of one of the supposed "agents" through the windows. Planting a smirk firmly on her face, she stepped inside, shut the door, placed a hand on her hip, and commented, "So, you're an agent now, huh, Dean? Is that what you got with your fake degree from UCLA?"

Sam had been facing her and scrunched his face in confusion as Dean spun around and started shuffling nervously. "Beth," he chuckled, clearly surprised. He tried to cover the fake badge that had his alias with the palm of one hand that was hanging on the breast pocket of his suit jacket, but Beth noticed it. "I had no idea that you were the woman we'd be interviewing."

"Obviously. I'm sure you would've been on your way out of town if you had," she pointedly reminded him. "What are you doing here pretending to be with the FBI? And what is it that you want with my story?" She crossed her arms and waited.

The boys shared a look and Dean let out a breath. "Alright, Beth, look. I'm sorry if I didn't leave under the best circumstances—"

"Ha!" she interrupted. "One day we're the college's 'Cutest Couple' – the next, you're gone with no explanation."

The other man snorted and shook his head as he put his hands on his hips. "Dean strikes again. Can't we go anywhere without running into some woman you've wronged?"

Dean turned back and glared at his brother, clearing his throat. "Ix-nay on the other women, bro," he pleaded with a constricted chuckle. He spun to face Beth again, flirtatiously offering, "Listen, maybe we could talk about this more over dinner…?"

"Nice try," she said dryly. "Just say what you came to say so you can go back to your womanizing. I'm not interested anymore."

Sam was holding back a silent laugh behind Dean as the other man was fumbling for words. The taller of the two stepped past Dean and held out his hand. "Guess there's no need to disguise ourselves anymore… I'm Sam, Dean's brother."

Beth shook his hand, realizing, "Oh, yeah. You were in high school when Dean and I knew each other. He mentioned you a couple of times."

Sam cast a glance at his brother, somewhat surprised. "Oh really? That's shocking," he added dryly.

Dean laughed nervously again and tried unsuccessfully to shake it off. "Yeah, you know… I'd never forget my baby brother…"

"Just girlfriends," Beth interjected directly.

Sam was grinning knowingly and was trying not to laugh, but decided to get down to business. "Well, obviously, you know we're not with the Bureau… Is there anyplace we can go to talk? Not here?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess… We can go back to my apartment…" she thought out loud and then regretted her words the second they were out – especially when Dean's eyebrows lifted slightly. But then she recalled that she had Mick's apartment keys in her pocket, he was most likely asleep (she hoped), and she could pretend it was her place just as it practically had been for the last few days. Mick would even prefer that she take them there in case he felt she needed protection. "Let me just tell my boss I'll be gone for a while."

The two men waited until Beth had a chance to talk to Maureen and she came back for them, waving them out of the conference room. She grabbed her keys and purse from her desk and led them out to the parking lot, making arrangements for them to follow her to the apartment.

All was quiet when she opened the door to Mick's home and let their guests step inside. They both looked around, with Dean commenting that the décor didn't seem to be what he'd 

expected of her. "What, do you live with your boyfriend or something?" he asked offhandedly.

She thought about her answer for less than a second and knew it couldn't hurt to reply affirmatively for a number of reasons. "Yes," she said simply. She glanced toward the upstairs. "In fact, uh…let me just see if he's home. Make yourselves comfortable," she gestured to the living room grouping, and trotted up the stairs.

Sneaking quietly through the gray door, Beth felt unnervingly bold for just letting herself in, but she didn't feel as though she had much of a choice under the circumstances. She certainly didn't want to catch Mick off guard with unknown visitors, and he did tell her to warn him about any suspicious people asking questions. Dean and Sam's visit fit those guidelines.

Stepping forward with her weak reasons in mind, Beth hesitated a few feet away from his freezer bed when she wondered if he wore anything to sleep. And for a moment, she was torn. The womanly side of her that had been so attracted to him for so long – since childhood, even – wanted an innocent peek. But as a friend, she knew she respected him too much. He was, after all, her protector for many years, and she owed him his space.

Beth was just thinking of something to say to get his attention, but when she swallowed and tried to clear her throat, she heard him move. The lid to his freezer opened and Mick sat up, stunned – and shirtless, which answered her other question. "Beth," he spoke worriedly. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No," she took a step closer, trying hard not to focus on his bare chest, and then stepped back again. She held up her hand. "Nothing's wrong. You told me to warn you if anyone came around asking questions…"

"Someone did?"

"They're downstairs," she nodded. "Dean and Sam Winchester. They said they were FBI, but I know Dean from a long time ago and knew they were lying. They said that they just want to talk and ask me some questions about Morgan."

Mick's face wrinkled worriedly. "Why would they pretend to be FBI?"

She shrugged. "I guess because they knew no one would give them any information."

"Have you said anything?" he asked with his eyes wide. He was fully awake now.

"No, not yet. They wanted to speak privately, outside of BuzzWire, so I brought them here."

"Good," he relaxed. "We need to be careful, Beth. They could be vamps."

She made a face. "I doubt it. I mean, Dean's a con-artist and he doesn't seem to have changed. I think it just has something to do with her disappearance." She shrugged once more, thinking out loud, "Maybe they have information that we don't have."

"That's true." He thought for a moment and then suggested, "But I want to make sure. Why don't you go on downstairs and start talking to them; I'll come down to check them out after I…get dressed."

She felt the heat rising to her face, if only slightly. "Of course," she agreed and turned toward the door. "Oh," she stopped and looked at him over her shoulder. "One more thing. I…kind of told them that I live here…_with_ you." She blinked down at the floor. "I thought it was better…"

An unexpected expression of glee flashed through Mick's eyes before being replaced with seriousness once more. "Oh, yeah. That was probably a good idea…you know, since I'm…here…"

Shrugging a shoulder and feeling the same sense of uneasy tension, she concurred. "That's what I thought too…" She took a step toward the door again. "Okay, I'll…be downstairs."

He nodded just as she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

Dean and Sam were chatting quietly as Beth descended and stopped when they heard her approaching. "I take it the boyfriend's home?" Dean questioned smartly and Beth nodded, avoiding taking the bait.

"He'll be down in a few minutes." She took the chair opposite from the couch where the two of them were sitting, but chose to lean her weight on the armrest instead of sinking down to eye-level. "So, while we wait, why don't you tell me what it is you do now? You know, since I was never really clear on that before," she narrowed her eyes just a little.

Sam looked to Dean to answer the question, since it was he that had painted himself into that corner. He took in a breath and laughed it out. "I tell you what, you still don't pull any punches, do you?" She just continued to glare. He looked to Sam for strength. "Well, we, uh…well, it's hard to explain what we do…"

Sam tried, "How much do you know about the supernatural?"

Beth frowned curiously. "As in…?"

"Ghosts, ghouls, demons, things of that nature?" Dean elaborated bluntly.

"I…I don't know," Beth ventured a reply. "I've never had any experience with anything like that."

"Well, you may be closer than you think," Dean told her. "We think," he glanced at Sam again. "We think your friend Morgan's disappearance may have been caused by something…not of this world."

"Like what?"

"We're not sure yet," Sam added, as if suddenly putting on his investigator's hat. "It could've been a number of things. You see, Dean and I have been following unexplained stories for years, finding evil spirits of all kinds, and have been…putting them to rest."

"So to speak," Dean added satirically.

Beth's eyebrows rose. "So, you're what, like ghost-hunters?" She had to hold back her laugh. "You do this for a living?"

"Thrown in a demon and a vampire or two and you've basically got it," Dean joked, but he missed the way Beth's body stiffened with the mention of the latter of the folklore creatures.

Fortunately, Mick was there to speak when she couldn't. He bounded down the last few steps, asking with a half-smile and a ridiculing tone, "Vampires? What interesting conversation did I miss?"

Relieved that Mick seemed so relaxed by the open discussion, Beth stood up and greeted him. "Oh…honey," she spoke a lot more reflexively than she would've expected. "This is Dean and Sam Winchester," she directed to each of them in turn. Slipping her arm possessively around Mick's, she introduced, "And this is Mick St. John, my…" her voice trailed off as she caught his profile and the automatic smile on his face as he allowed her to introduce him to their visitors. He almost glowed with a happiness she hadn't seen in a while, and she couldn't articulate what he was to her, even though they'd already agreed that he would be her boyfriend in front of these two men.

Missing her speechlessness, Sam stepped forward first and shook Mick's hand and greeted him, followed quickly by Dean. Then Sam sat down, while Dean continued to stand and stare. "So… How long have you two been together?" he asked almost jealously.

"Oh," Beth was the first to speak. "About a month," she fibbed, coming up with the amount of time off the top of her head. But actually, she wasn't too far off from the time that she realized she was in love with Mick St. John, even though he didn't yet know it and she was terrified to voice it. "Why?"

"Well… I'm just…surprised you got over me so fast," Dean blurted as an obvious joke to her, winking as he did so.

"Excuse me? What's he talking about?" Mick piped up and Beth had to explain that she and Dean had dated during that time period they knew each other before.

"Oh," he mumbled, inwardly wondering if this was the guy that Beth had admitted to being "crazy about" in her college days. A feeling in the pit of his stomach made him hope he wasn't.

"So, what do you do?" Dean asked, sizing Mick up.

"I'm a Private Investigator."

"Oh?" He snickered, "What, you couldn't pass the police academy exam?"

"Didn't want to. More freedom this way," Mick answered easily. Then he returned the condescension, "Get kicked out of college, did you?"

"Never actually went," Dean lobbed right back and Beth was beginning to feel like she was at a tennis match. "Those few months Beth knew me, I was undercover, not an actual student. Didn't really need a degree for what I do."

"No, I would guess not," Mick assumed sarcastically. In truth, he could've said much more to this arrogant, self-righteous youngster – for he was a juvenile compared to Mick's true age – but he was wise enough to know better.

Beside him, as she watched on, Beth found each of their stances humorous – almost as if neither was willing to back down first. They were like two lions in the jungle fighting over a mate… She inwardly laughed and then her stomach lurched when she realized that _she_ was the mate they were fighting over. She suddenly felt sick. "Dean," she abruptly interrupted the ego-fight to battle her nausea by ignoring it, "why don't you tell Mick what you were telling me about the kind of investigation you're doing?"

"Yeah," Mick added with a twitch of his eyebrow, "what's this about vampires?"

She was relieved that the topic had changed to more level ground, discussing Dean and Sam's freelance occupation, but she did note that Mick made sure he was the last to sit, if even by a second. He lowered his body into the chair that Beth had just been perched on, and with less than a moment's thought, she sat back down on her spot, not completely unaware that her rear-end was directly in Mick's line of sight and so very close. She could practically _feel _his eyes on her tight denim, if only briefly.

But Sam was explaining what the three of them had been discussing before Mick's entrance, and she forced her ears to listen as he wound down.

"What can you tell us about Morgan?" Sam asked when he was through bringing Mick up to speed.

Mick turned his eyes Beth's direction, giving her the floor since he couldn't claim to have known Morgan previously without revealing himself. And she knew that. "Well, I met her several months ago. She moved from Chicago to work for BuzzWire. Before that, she was a freelancer and we used to buy a lot of her pictures. She's a great photographer."

"Did you ever know her family?"

"I've talked to them on the phone once – her father and sister. They're nice."

"Was she ever married?"

Beth inadvertently shared a sideways glance with Mick before answering, "Uh…" she faced Dean and Sam once more, "not that I know of."

Dean's eyes narrowed for a brief second but he didn't speak his thoughts.

Sam went on with his interview, "Do you have any idea where she may have disappeared to?"

"No," Beth shrugged. Then she thought it appropriate to add, "We're all worried about her. She had a…chest wound that was pretty severe." Beth couldn't meet their eyes as she'd spoken that half-truth. "I can't imagine why she would disappear."

Dean leaned forward. "How _did_ she end up with that chest wound, by the way? Was it an accident?"

"Yes, uh," Beth opened her mouth to answer, but felt Mick's hand slip around and rest on her hip and she shut up – partly _because _he was touching her so familiarly.

"Neither of us were there when the accident occurred," he explained, "but we were the ones that found her and she was alone. She never did get a chance to tell us how it happened."

"Hmm," Dean mumbled and after a pause in the conversation, Sam stood up.

The others stood with him as he concluded, "Well, that should be fine for now, but, um, would it be okay if we called you if we have any more questions?"

"Of course," she stated and then rattled off her cell phone number while Sam wrote it down. As they all walked to the door, she felt it necessary – as Morgan's "friend" – to add, "And if you find Morgan, please…tell her that we're worried about her." They all stopped by the door as Beth allowed Mick to pull her close to his side, completing the act.

"We will," Sam promised.

Dean eyed the couple for a moment and then chuckled. "So funny seeing you again," he told Beth. "I knew you'd never give up going after the bad boys."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she wondered a touch angrily.

He quickly shrugged. "Just that when you started reporting on BuzzWire, I didn't believe the rumor that you were dating some goody-two-shoes lawyer."

"I was," she divulged and then revealed evenly, "Josh and I broke up."

She sensed that Mick was looking at her, but she still couldn't yet face him with that truth. Dean was continuing to talk.

"Still, I never figured you for the settling-down type. Guess I was right," he smugly commented and Beth felt her temperature starting to boil.

But it was Mick that came to her rescue as usual. "Actually, Beth and I are getting married in the spring."

"Whoa, after a month?"

Mick dryly retorted, "When it's right and you know it, why wait?"

"Oh," said Dean, obviously taken aback. "Well, sorry. I didn't mean to offend—"

"None taken," Mick cut him off. "Now if you don't mind, we had plans for dinner."

"Right," Sam spoke up and held out his hand to Mick. "Thanks for your time."

The men shook hands and Mick led them to the door, with Beth trailing the group. She mutely waved and politely smiled her goodbye before Mick closed the door and mumbled, "Jerk," under his breath.

"Yeah," she breathed out as she practically floated away from the door. She was distracted and a bit hung up on the "Beth and I are getting married in the spring" line that was playing over and over again on a loop in her brain. She was busy thinking about what life would be like for them in the spring, if they would still be friends or…something more. Would they ever give a relationship a chance? And what of the mortal cure? If there was such a thing, and Mick decided to use it for a second chance at a human life, would there be a future for the two of them? Was he even interested in her that way? She'd often felt that he might be, but she had taken the lead in every step closer that they'd had so far. And what if there was no cure? Would she ever be willing to try to become immortal so that they could be together? Would he want her to, _ever_?

Mick only noticed that something was off with her when she didn't speak or face him for a full minute. "Beth… What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she shook her head to clear it and kept her back to him. "Thanks…for…for defending me there." She rubbed at her temples when a headache started to form.

"Well, I felt I had to say something. He was being very disrespectful—"

"I know, but we should've just been honest from the beginning to keep out the confusion." She dropped her hands back to her sides and wiped the unnoticeable sweat from her palms on the hips of her jeans.

Mick was contemplating what she'd meant when it hit him. "Right, because if and when they meet Josh and see you two together—"

She was shaking her head and slowly turned just until she could see him from the side. Even then, she couldn't fully meet his gaze. "No, they won't. I…I wasn't lying when I told them about Josh."

He had to replay the conversation back in his mind to pinpoint exactly what she meant, and when he did, he felt mild tightness in his chest. "You…broke up?"

She nodded. "The other night, when I got home from New York, he was waiting for me."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," she vowed, but not honestly. "It just didn't seem important."

"Did he, uh…? It's none of my business," he changed his mind and walked in the direction of the kitchen.

She lifted her chin, divulging, "I broke up with _him_," as if reading his mind, since that was what he was going to ask, and he stopped to listen to her. "It just…it wasn't working anymore. Ever since I got my promotion, life has been really hectic, and it was just too hard to keep it going."

He wondered if her reasons were true or if by chance there was something else hidden behind her words, possibly involving him…?

He changed the subject to avoid speaking feelings that couldn't be shared, else they face consequences they weren't prepared to handle. But he still had to fight to focus. "What we tell them isn't important," he shook his head. "Right now, we have to worry about finding Coraline before Dean and Sam do. If she's turned back or is somewhere in between, she might be exposed, and then we all will be."

As she absorbed his words and nodded, he sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. "I never thought I'd have to deal with hunters so soon."

"What do you mean?"

He paced away a few steps. "Josef has told me stories of being chased by torch-bearing mobs… That hasn't really been a problem in the last century. Vamps have been able to fade into the background for the most part; and to have a couple of hunters end up on my doorstep…"

"I'm sorry," she put in, realizing suddenly that she'd put him in danger by bringing Dean and Sam to his apartment instead of dealing with them alone. "I shouldn't have—"

"No," he quickly amended. "You were right to bring them here, Beth. I just have to figure out what to do. I should probably talk to Josef."

"Is he back from New York?"

"Not yet. He called last night and said he'd be back this weekend," Mick replied, staring at the floor, thinking.

Beth sighed with the weight of it all. "Never a moment's rest," she muttered and Mick glanced up, smiling assuredly.

He closed the gap between them and gently held her by the elbows, forcing her to meet his eyes. "It'll be okay."

She searched his eyes and felt his hope. "If you say so," she faintly smiled back, "I'll believe it."

* * *

Dean was quiet for several miles as he drove his old car away from Mick's apartment to find a hotel to settle in for a few days. Finally, Sam just had to know what he was thinking. "So, Beth seemed nice," he began, hoping to strike up conversation. "When were you two together?"

"Back during the UCLA slayings – I thought it was a demonic influence or a…an alien invasion or whatever…" he spoke jovially, shrugging. "I went in undercover as a student for six months; Beth and I were hot and heavy for most of that time—"

"Oh, god, please tell me you did not just use the phrase 'hot and heavy'."

"Well, we were," Dean said defensively, still with a smirk. "I taught her how to pick locks and guzzle beer," he proudly admitted, and Sam knew his mind was turning to things more of an amorous nature when his grin turned wolfish. "And she taught me all about multiple—"

"OKAY," Sam interrupted loudly, talking over whatever it was his brother was going to say. "Too much information, thanks."

Dean chuckled, readjusting his lazy hand on the steering wheel as he sobered. "She's hiding something, though."

"You think so?"

He nodded. "I think we should look into Morgan's past a bit more. Something's off there. I can't put my finger on it, but…Beth knew more about Morgan than she was letting on. So did Mick, I'm sure," he added with a frown.

"Are you sure it's not just jealousy there, bro?"

"Jealous? Me? Please," he scoffed, chuckling as he glanced at the scenery outside of his window. "Believe me, that's all water under the bridge. I'm just interested in the case."

"Alright," Sam sighed, not sure if he should believe him, but deciding that there was always a first time for everything. "First thing tomorrow, I'll check the public records."

"And I'll find out what they know at the hospital."


	3. Part 2

**Part 2:**

Dean pulled the car up to the curb beside the courthouse and watched as his brother bounded down the stairs. As soon as he had the door open and was sliding into the passenger seat, Dean asked, "So what'd you find out?"

"Everything checks out," Sam replied. "I talked to her father and sister and, other than saying that they haven't talked to Morgan in a while, they seemed normal." He held up the copies in his hand to flip through them. "She has a business license as a freelance photographer, graduated from Northwestern, doesn't own any property, has never been married… Nothing's out of the ordinary, Dean. Nothing to explain why she disappeared."

Dean shook his head. "Yeah, the hospital was a dead-end, too. Heh," he snorted when he realized he'd made a joke, but didn't bother laughing anymore when Sam didn't seem to see the humor. He cleared his throat. "I got copies of all the tests they did on her, the heart monitor readout, the EKG…all seemingly normal. But, something interesting did pop up in her blood tests."

"What, unknown chemicals or something?"

"No. Nothing."

Sam frowned. "What?"

"Absolutely nothing, Sam. The woman's blood was completely clean – there were no impurities. _Everybody_ has impurities in their blood."

"Yeah, I remember that from biology class," he said thoughtfully.

"So what do you think?"

"I don't know. We still have no idea where she could be to find out what it means, and if there is something up with her identity, we'd have to go all the way to Chicago to interview her family face-to-face to prove it."

"You're right. And who wants to do that in the middle of January? I say we stay here and follow Mick for a while," he half-grinned.

"Mick St. John, Beth's fiancé?" the younger one shook his head. "Why him and not her?"

"I don't know," Dean grimaced. "But something's off with him – you thought so too, right?"

Sam chortled. "Damn it, you _are _jealous. Dean, when are you going to start thinking with your northern brain?" he tapped his temple.

"Shut up, you twerp." He started the car and pulled it away from the curb.

"'Twerp'?" his brother outright laughed. "Oh yeah, I haven't heard that since I was about eight."

"Yeah? Well, it's appropriate here and now."

Sam stared out at the road in front of them. "Where are we headed?"

"I told you I wanted to tail Mick," he smartly retorted. "You got any better ideas?"

Gurgling out a muttered reply with no real answer, Sam was momentarily speechless.

Dean smirked. "Yeah, I thought so," he said, and stepped more firmly on the gas pedal.

* * *

With a bag of groceries in hand, Beth let herself into Mick's apartment as she'd become accustomed and smiled when she saw the vampire himself coming down the stairs. She forcibly kept her eyes on his face – taking in his damp hair – to keep from focusing on his bare chest beneath his unbuttoned shirt. He'd obviously just gotten out of the shower. "Hey, sorry I missed you this morning," she greeted. "Were you home by dawn?"

"No," he admitted while starting to button his shirt and therefore, keep her eyes from the temptation to wander anymore. She moved past him to start unloading the bag in the kitchen. He went on, "I didn't get back until almost eight, which is why I'm leaving early tonight. That cocky friend of yours and his brother were following me all night."

"What?" she complained, not hiding her annoyance. "You saw them?"

"Couldn't miss the sound of the engine in that muscle car of theirs," he quirked. "Not sure why they thought they could outsmart and tail a P.I., but I'm not going to let them follow me tonight." His shirt closed up, he grabbed for a duffel bag on the couch and headed for his weapon box, starting to pack it with various knives and stakes.

"Are you going…hunting?" she asked, lacking a more appropriate word.

"No, but if those guys get even the least bit suspicious about what I am, I'm going to be prepared to defend myself."

She rounded the counter and came closer by a few feet. "You don't think they'd actually try to _kill_ you…"

He met her eyes. "They're hunters, Beth. That's what they do. They don't take the time to think about whether or not we're a danger to the people. To them, we all need to be executed."

He put the box in its place and stood up with the bag in hand and Beth changed the subject slightly, "Any luck finding a lead on Coraline?"

"No," he repeated disappointedly. He sighed. "I've asked everyone I know; I've put the word out throughout the entire vampire nation… It's like she actually disappeared."

Beth felt his frustration. Not knowing where she was meant not knowing what she was up to…or planning. For all they knew, she could be lying in wait somewhere, watching and studying them for the right time to attack. "Do you think it's wise to keep going out night after night, looking for her? I mean, if someone is watching us – including Dean and Sam – they've got to know your pattern by now."

He moved to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of blood as he did before leaving each evening. "Don't worry about me; I can lose them," he assured her, and replaced the blood pouches back in their hiding spot.

"They'll know _I'll_ be here alone too."

"Then don't let them in."

"That'll work for Dean and Sam, but as for Coraline…"

Realizing her fear, Mick leaned his hips against the counter and reminded her, "Beth, the doors and windows will be bolted and are reinforced. The glass is bulletproof – it can't be broken."

Her eyes automatically lifted to the windows beside and above them, and she momentarily recalled when she'd been attacked by another vampire who had broken through the skylight with ease.

Sensing her hesitation, Mick pointed to the ceiling. "That's unbreakable now, too," he promised. "Nobody's getting in here unless we _want _them in."

She nodded and relaxed, leaning on the counter on her elbows. But after a moment, he sighed. "Okay, I don't have to go. I'll stay here."

"No," she spoke guiltily, standing up to hold up her palms in front of her. "You're right – I'll be fine."

She could tell Mick was really wavering between his need to go and his desire to stay with her, but his phone rang, barring any more conversation on the point. Since Beth was closest to it on the counter, she picked it up and looked at the screen. "It's Josef," she told him and he came over to take the phone from her.

He answered and put it to his ear, greeting his friend. "Hey. When are you coming back?"

"I'm on my way now," his friend almost whined. "That's why I'm calling you – I don't have any transportation since my identity got blown to hell along with my office and all my money. 

I don't think my doorman would be too thrilled if a dead man walked through the lobby of my apartment building either."

"So you need me to pick you up," Mick assumed the obvious, and Josef replied with a sarcastic "yes". Mick went on, "And I suppose you want me to put you up in my apartment until you get your new identity all set up."

"Now you're thinking with both sides of your brain," Josef deadpanned. "And don't make me wait too long. You know how I hate waiting."

Mick chortled as he got the last of the details and hung up the phone. Then he relayed the message to Beth.

"And he's going to be staying here?" she wondered as she went back to putting the food she'd bought away in the cabinets and 'fridge.

"Maybe for a day or two, just until he gets his new papers." Beth knew they had a vamp in their nation that was superb at doctoring new, believable identities for them when necessary. "After that, I'm sure he'll be able to get a new place to live."

"You don't want him to live here with you?"

Mick shook his head. "He's…still a little too wild. I can't trust him."

"With your stuff?"

He partially agreed and added, "And with you." He explained, "Josef tends to take what he wants when he gets too hungry." He walked over to the couch and held up a gun. "I'm putting this here in case you need it," he told her and shoved it under the back cushions. "Don't be afraid to use it."

"I won't," she vowed.

Mick came back to stand even closer than he had been before. "Are you _sure _you'll be okay by yourself? I'm not sure when we'll be back."

"Yes, I'm sure," she revealed a tiny smirk. "I'll probably spend my evening taking a bath and reading."

"Okay," he conceded after a moment.

She tilted her face up to him with a smile, "I guess I'll see you in the morning."

He nodded, "Goodnight." And then he spontaneously bent down and kissed her on the cheek. He'd taken a step back before he realized what he'd done, and when he did, he was just as shocked as she. "I…I-I don't know why I did that," he spoke apologetically.

"Don't be sorry," she mildly chided. "We _are_ friends…right?" She chuckled, "We're practically roommates now."

"Right," he uttered after a moment and stepped back another foot. "I'll…see you."

"'Bye," she replied and watched him go.

* * *

Mick was gone less than a half an hour when there was a knock on the door. Beth knew better than to answer without checking out the door camera and panning around to make sure no one was hiding in the shadows, and she groaned when she saw that it was Sam and Dean. She opened the door a few inches with her foot propped behind it to keep them from barging in and grumbled, "What do you want?"

"Ouch," Dean remarked with a hand over his heart. "Nice greeting. Mind if we come in?"

"Yes, I mind. I was just…getting into the bathtub." She regretted spitting out the truthful words the second they were out. And Dean reacted typically, lifting his eyebrows in curiosity.

"A bath?" Dean mouthed incredulously. "Alone?"

"It wasn't an invitation," she glared.

He chuckled at her brassiness. "Right. I just wondered if you and Mick…uh…I mean… Is he here?"

"No, he's working."

"All night?"

"Yes, you know, you've heard of it, people actually working at night," she said dryly.

"Does he sleep during the day?"

"When else would he sleep if he works at night?"

"Wait," Sam interjected, "Why doesn't he work during the day? I thought he was a P.I."

"He is. He trails his targets most nights since that's usually when they're cheating on their wives. Anything else you want to know?"

"Yeah, uh," the boys looked at each other. Sam went on, posing the question tenderly, "We noticed that he shielded his face from the sunset as he was leaving. Does he have any aversion to sunlight?"

"He doesn't want to get skin cancer. His father died of that last year."

"Oh," Dean mumbled and grinned. "Well, that explains it then."

She crossed her arms on her chest. "It doesn't explain what you were doing watching Mick. Don't you guys have anything _better_ to do with your time than tail my boyfriend?"

"I thought he was your fiancé," Dean remarked.

"He is, but…the engagement's still so new; I haven't gotten used to calling him that." Thank God she could think quickly on her feet. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my bath is getting cold."

"Hope you enjoy it!" she heard Dean add as a final thought as she closed the door between her and them.

The door slammed in their faces, the Winchester boys stood and stared at one another for a moment, thinking. Then they started for the elevator. "Maybe she doesn't know what he does," Sam offered.

"No, she knows," he shook his head. "She knows. And I'm not just talking about his 'investigations'," he said with a roll of his eyes, using air quotes with both hands.

They waited for the elevator side-by-side, watching the numbers above the door light up as the car ascended. Sam wondered, "You really think that Mick is the key to this Morgan's disappearance?"

"Listen, all I know is that the guy is weird, goes out all night, comes back at dawn, and is inside the entire day before leaving for the night again. And how do you explain how he lost us? One minute he's walking down the sidewalk and we're on his tail; the next, we round a corner and he's gone. There's definitely something going on here." The elevator doors opened and the two stepped inside as Dean said, "There's only one supernatural thing I know that sleeps during the day, has a dislike for sunlight, and can disappear in a moment's notice."

Sam nodded, already having agreed with his rationality in the car before they came up to confront Beth. "Good thing we have that infrared scanner."

"See?" Dean quirked as the doors opened again on the bottom floor. "I told you it would be a good investment."

The stepped off and began to walk across the lobby to the outer doors. "And this way we can't be accused of jumping to any conclusions and attacking an innocent…"

"It's good all around," Dean agreed.

"If we do confirm our suspicions, I think we should tell Beth," the younger one advised as they stepped outside. He dropped his voice a notch. "She has a right to know if her fiancé is a vamp."

"Like she wouldn't know already. What, she's never tried to have a meal with him? Drinking blood for breakfast is not something you can get away with on a daily basis. If he is a vampire, she knows it and is protecting him."

He nodded. "Assuming he sticks to his pattern, we should know by tomorrow morning. Until then, I say we see what we can find out about the other things she told us, like what really happened to Mick's father. If she lied about that little thing—"

"I know, I know," Sam interrupted again. "It's a good chance she's lying about the big stuff too."

"One step at a time, bro," he replied and the two tapped their fists in agreement.


	4. Part 3

**Part 3:**

_Crunch, crunch, cr-crunch_. Sam was just finding solace in the sudden quiet when it started up again. _Crunch, crunch-crunch-crunch._ "Dean, do you mind?" Sam finally burst. "How can you eat that crap anyway?" he asked, gesturing to the bag of pork rinds with his eyes.

"Hey, I offered you some," Dean defended and went on crunching.

"Yeah, well, it stinks. Eat a breath mint, for crying out loud." Sam went back to watching the sidewalk outside of Mick's apartment building ahead, waiting for the possible-vamp-in-question to return home. He just hoped it would be soon, because the infrared scanner was starting to get heavy. Researching Mick's past and family had been useless, since there was nothing since the early fifties – a blurb in the local paper about a missing musician with the same name. It only worked to confirm their suspicions that Mick was an immortal, probably starting around that time.

Dean went on crunching away at his snack as Sam adjusted the scanner in his hands and propped his elbow on the car door. The other man's chewing stopped so he could announce, "Dude, there he is."

Sam's first instinct was to lift the scanner to eye-level to check it. But, other than a woman that was out walking her dog, the screen was solid green. "He's not showing up. We were right," he added almost disappointedly.

"Well, I'm hardly ever wrong," Dean smugly interjected and smiled. "What about the other guy?"

"What other guy?" Sam peered around the scanner and saw the tall, young guy walking and talking with Mick. He checked the screen again and noted that it hadn't changed. "Whoa. Two of 'em?"

Tossing his pork rinds to the side, Dean reached for the door handle. "Let's go."

"Dean," Sam stopped him, setting the scanner down on the seat. "What about Beth? You can't just charge in and kill her fiancé without some explanation first."

"I can if he's a danger to society."

"I don't know… He seemed harmless."

"Yeah, _now_. What about when he gets hungry?"

"Beth seems to trust him."

"Beth might not even _know_ him! And are we willing to risk _her _life, waiting around before we take action and take him out?"

Sam couldn't argue that, but… "She still needs to know, _before_ we confront Mick."

Dean wanted to fight it, but his conscience got to him. "Well, how do you suggest we do that, genius? You know, since we just let two vamps walk inside the building where Beth is currently?"

* * *

Beth had been enjoying a leisurely bath…until her cell phone rang after just ten minutes of soaking in the hot water. "Damn it," she almost growled and reached for where it was sitting on top of her towel. "Hello?" she spoke into the phone after answering, hoping her voice didn't reveal her annoyance…at least too much.

It was Josh. "I left some files at your apartment, and I need to get them, and I figured that now was as good a time as any to get the rest of my stuff."

"Tonight?"

"Beth, you know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important," his tone pleaded.

She sighed, shutting her eyes. "Okay, give me half an hour."

She'd just finished getting dressed when she heard voices in the apartment, and leaned against the bathroom door, recognizing Mick's voice. She grabbed her phone and made her way downstairs.

"Beth," Josef acknowledged when he saw her. "Mick didn't tell me you were here." He walked over and held out his hand to greet her.

Beth smirked, having the knowledge of his true nature, but extended her hand to take his and squeeze it. "Nice to see you again too, Josef. How was your flight?"

"Boring," he continued to grin. "But at least it was a short trip, unlike the month-long voyages we had to take to cross the continent in my younger days."

She let go of his hand and nodded, just as Mick noted how she was dressed. He expected to see her in much less, given the time of night. "Are you going somewhere?" he wondered.

"Yeah," she said somberly. "I have to see Josh – let him get some of his things from my apartment."

Mick's nod didn't distract Josef from nosily asking, "Oh, trouble in paradise?"

"Not that it's any of your business," Beth teased, "but yes, Josh and I are no longer together."

"Oh, really?" he commented, casting a prodding glance at Mick.

Beth noticed it, but she didn't dare fan the flame of his suspicion by pointing it out. "I should be back in an hour or two."

Mick took a step forward. "I'll come with you."

"No," she said a touch too quickly. It certainly wouldn't prove well if she showed up to meet Josh with the very man he accused her of leaving him for. "I was thinking tonight: I don't think I'm in any real danger. If Coraline was going to come after me, she would've done it already. I-I'm sure I could even move back to my apartment soon."

Mick blinked back his disappointment. "Oh, uh…"

"She's probably right," Josef interjected when his friend seemed speechless. "Coraline is probably just hiding out, trying to recuperate."

"So, you think she's turned back?" Beth wondered.

He shrugged. "Her disappearance just doesn't seem logical otherwise. And I think I might know who may be helping her readjust to vampirism."

Her eyes darted to Mick, but he too seemed surprised by the news. Still, he turned his attention back to Beth. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

She made a face. "I think I should really deal with Josh alone. But I-I will come back here for tonight, if you're worried…"

"Until we find out what happened to Coraline, I'd feel better…" He ended the sentence with a nod.

"Okay," she smiled assuredly, taking a step back, toward the door. "I'll be back in an hour."

Once Beth was gone, Mick faced Josef. "When were you going to tell me about this mutual friend of yours and Coraline's?"

"I just thought of it. And, you're not going to like this, Mick, but I really should go alone."

"Why?"

Josef sighed. "The vampire I'm thinking of… Well, he's a bit of a recluse. Likes to keep to himself, doesn't go out much…"

"So?"

"Doesn't take well to visitors, wants to be left alone, gets violently angry when meeting new vamps," Josef went on, emphasizing his words.

"Okay, I get it," Mick sighed, shuffling his feet. "So, I'll stay put and you go." He pointed a finger at Josef's face. "But I tell you what: you'd better not leave out even the tiniest detail of what happened when you come back."

"Come on, Mick, don't you trust me?" All Mick had to do was raise an eyebrow. "Oh, fine." He lifted three fingers in a traditional Boy Scout pledge. "I promise."

Mick just snorted and shook his head as he walked away.

* * *

Sam and Dean were trying to figure out a believable way of getting Beth alone _and_ out of Mick's apartment when Beth emerged from the building by herself, getting the boys' attention. "Whoa, hey, look," Dean said when he noticed her first. "Seems like she's gonna make the job easier for us."

"Let's follow her," Sam suggested, but Dean shook his head.

"I'm not leaving and allowing Mick to disappear on us again."

"Okay, fine," Sam relented. "You stay here, and keep an eye on the door to make sure he doesn't leave, and I'll go and talk to Beth."

The thought processing going on in Dean's face was pretty evident on his face. "No, I'll go talk to Beth—"

"Why? Because so far you've done such a great job of breaking news to her?" He chuckled sarcastically. "She's not going to believe a damn word you say, Dean."

"Alright, alright, you go," he agreed reluctantly. He took the keys out of the ignition. "But I'm not staying here empty-handed." He got out, popped the trunk and took out a forty-five that he had filled with silver bullets for just such an occasion. "You've got one hour. Then I go in alone." And he stalked off for a secure place to hide in the alley, leaving behind his threat with his little brother.

Following Beth's car all the way in the Impala, Sam pulled up a half-block away from where she stopped in front of another apartment building. A third car parked between them and a man in a suit exited, getting Beth's attention. They chatted for a moment in the yard and then went inside together. Sam wondered for a moment if she was having an affair, but judging by their body language as they walked separately into the building, it didn't seem right. He waited a good few minutes and then walked through the entrance, and searched the mailboxes for a name that looked familiar. There was Beth's name in black-and-white. It was her apartment.

He took in the number and made his way to the stairs. Once in front of her door, he strained to listen but could only hear muffled conversation, and decided it wouldn't hurt to knock. 

The door swung open and the dark-haired man he'd seen outside stood on the other side, with his jacket off and his tie loosened. "Uh," Sam uttered. "Is…Beth here?"

After eyeing him from head-to-toe, the man stated skeptically, "Yeah. Come in." Then he tossed over his shoulder, "Beth, it's for you."

"Sam?" she said as she came from the kitchen, shocked. "What're you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Sorry, but I followed you from Mick's."

The man tossed a derisive expression her direction. "You were at Mick's?" he scoffed and Beth hushed him with just a look. He held up his hands in defense. "Sorry. None of my business anymore."

Sam changed the subject by extending his hand out to the strange man. "I'm Sam."

"Josh," he replied, shaking Sam's hand. He gestured to the woman with his head. "Beth's ex. I'm just here, getting the last of my stuff."

"Oh," Sam said quietly, suddenly feeling the intensity of the moment. "Beth…told me that you'd broken up."

"Yeah, last week," he revealed and although Sam's eyebrows shot up, he didn't comment. "Actually, I'm kind of surprised she'd already have a third guy on the hook."

"Josh," Beth scolded and his jaw twitched as he glanced at her.

"Right," Josh conceded. "I'll just get my stuff and get out of here."

Sam turned to Beth, awaiting an explanation, and she sighed. "I lied. Josh and I just broke up. Mick and I aren't together, and we're definitely not engaged."

Josh had moved to the bedroom and was seemingly out of earshot, but he came back to the doorway of the room and complained, "_That's_ what you told him? That you and Mick were not only together, but _engaged_? Wow, I'm sorry I stood in your way for so long."

"Josh, it's not what you think," she consoled. "It just… It's hard to explain."

"Well, far be it from me to expect an explanation. This is just the guy you dumped me for."

"I did _not _dump you for Mick," she argued. "How many times do I have to say that?"

Feeling in the way, Sam backed toward the door while they continued to argue. "I'm gonna go," he said meekly, not sure if they heard him.

But suddenly Josh quieted, glared at Beth with his lips pursed and shook his head. "No, stay. I'm out of here anyway." And he took his coat and his small box of stuff from the couch and left.

The door slammed behind Josh and made Sam jump slightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start something."

"No, it's fine," she rolled her eyes. "It was bound to come out anyway, and at least this way, Josh will stop trying to get us back together."

"So you've only been apart a week…" he thought out loud. "How well do you know Mick?"

"Oh," she answered, walking over to her phone on the kitchen counter when it started vibrating. "Not long. We met at a crime scene a few months ago and started working together off and on." She held up her finger and answered her phone when she realized it was her boss. After less than a minute of conversation, she hung up and apologized. "Sorry, I have to go back to work. There's new information for a story I'm working on…"

"I understand," he nodded and made his way to the door. "We'll be in touch."

She smiled and nodded as well, and he left to go back to tell Dean what he'd found out.

Back in the car, Sam explained to his brother, "She hasn't known him very long after all. It's possible she doesn't know what he is."

"You didn't ask?"

"Didn't have time. She had to go back to work."

"Hmm," Dean thought. "Well, I say it's no time like the present. If we end the day with one less vamp in the world, that's a good day, in my opinion."

"They're both still in there?"

"They didn't leave out the front," he replied smugly. "And I'm sure that if they left out the back because I was watching, they would've attacked me."

"Okay, so…how are we going to do this?"

"What do you mean?" Dean balked. "Same as always: go in, catch them off-guard, chop their heads off. It's most effective."

"I don't know, man. This time, it just seems…insensitive," Sam shrugged. "I mean, Mick seems like a nice guy – he seems like someone we'd be friends with."

"Dude, are you P-M-S-ing? Where is this coming from? Did you buy any bows for your hair while you were out?"

"Shut up," he complained, clearly annoyed. "All I'm saying is that there could be a nicer – and _safer_ – way of handling this."

Dean rolled his eyes. "You're talking about that vamp poison, aren't you?"

"We haven't yet had a chance to try it out," Sam pointed out. "Now is as good a time as any."

"Wuss."

Despite his brother's underhanded, mumbled comment, Sam knew he'd gotten through when Dean didn't argue the point anymore, and he also knew he could trust that he would go along with his request. After killing their former friend-turned-vampire with his bare hands and barbed wire, Sam much preferred a less 'hands-on' approach. Guns with silver bullets and a syringe filled with a concoction that would kill them was a much better way to go.

Slowly coming back to the present, Sam's eyes focused in on something that got his attention. "Look at these guys," he pointed with his eyes at a group of three skinhead-looking people in dark trench coats. "They seem a little…out of place for this neighborhood, don't they?"

"What's the infrared say?"

Sam picked it up, turned it on, and pointed it their direction, catching them before they ducked into Mick's building. "Damn. Three more."

"What is this, a vampire convention?" Dean snarked. "How'd we get so lucky to catch _five_ in one night?"

"We're outnumbered. No way we're going in there now."

"Aw, come on, Sam," Dean joked. "I'll give you the three little ones."

He wasn't going to go for it and snorted to make his point. "We'll just have to wait until Mick's night-walking visitors leave and find them later." He then slid down in the seat to get comfortable and Dean gave in and did the same.

* * *

Done with her work for the night, Beth parallel-parked on the street and headed for Mick's apartment building when she caught a glimpse of Dean and Sam's car with the trunk open. She practically tiptoed over to spy on what they were doing when she caught the gleam of something silver that they were shoving into a gym bag. "What are you doing?" she asked breathlessly, without thinking.

The boys glanced up and Dean chuckled. "Nothing."

Even though he lowered the lid of their weapon compartment, Beth still got a good look of what they had stored in there as she moved closer. "What's with all the weapons?" Then the realization struck her. "You're going after Mick, aren't you?"

Sam came around his brother to hold up his hands defensively. "It's not what you think," he pleaded. "We found out that Mick isn't… Well, he's not exactly human. It's kind of hard to explain, but he's a—"

"Vampire," she finished for him, frowning. "And a damn good one at that."

"So you _do _know," Dean commented, sharing a look with his brother.

"He's not a typical vampire," she pleaded.

Dean's eyebrow shot up. "Are you listening to yourself?"

"He's a _good_ _person_—"

"Not human," Dean retorted.

"Not _evil_," she bit back.

He laughed, "Come on, all vampires are evil. It's their very nature."

"You don't know Mick."

"I know enough," he said finally, clicking a fully-loaded ammo clip into his gun with a _snap_. "And unfortunately, they still have to be eliminated. Can't have their kind walking around, waiting for that moment they decide to feed on innocents."

"That's what you think he does?"

He picked up the bag and slammed the trunk lid closed. "No, Beth, that's what I _know_ from years of experience. Sure, they may seem nice in the beginning, but it's only to lure you in."

"You're wrong. Mick's not like that."

"That's what they all say," he quirked. "And I wish I was wrong, sweetheart, but I'm afraid—"

Frightened for his safety, Beth suddenly left them and darted for the door of the building, and he shut up in shock, grabbing Sam by the shirtsleeve to chase after her. They ran fast after her, but with her head start, she beat them to the elevator and the doors closed before they could get to it.

"Looks like we're huffin' it," Dean remarked and they ran for the stairs, taking two or three steps at a time all the way up.


	5. Part 4

**Part 4:**

The Winchesters were the lucky ones, since Beth hadn't been alone on the elevator and it made a couple of stops on the way up to Mick's floor. In the meantime, the boys were able to knock and wait for Mick to answer, calmly asking to speak to Beth before they charged in once the door was open, with their weapons loaded and ready. Dean shot Mick in the shoulder twice, knocking him to the floor, and then told Sam to look around the apartment for "the other one". Mick stumbled further into the apartment away from them, struggling with the silver bullets that were beginning to poison his body. But Dean got to him with a loaded syringe before he rounded the couch, and injected it into his bicep.

"There. That should take care of him," he commented to no one in particular, just as Beth charged in. And in a force she didn't know she had in her, she grabbed Dean away from Mick, pushed him against the wall partition and glared at him before shoving him out of the way to give her attention to Mick.

"Mick!" she cried, bending over him. "Oh, god, Mick." She fidgeted, grasping at anything and everything in her memory that she could do to help. But she just felt helpless. He'd been shot and Dean and Sam weren't going to leave until he was dead. She had to do something to stop them.

She glanced up to the furniture, remembering the gun he'd stashed there earlier that evening and had an idea. "Let me get you to the couch," she said to Mick as a ploy to get to the gun. She helped him up and he limped with her help to plop down on the couch and lay down, clutching his shoulder. Then she slid her hand under the cushions, and with an imperceptible nod to Mick, she pulled the gun out and stood up, pointing it straight at Dean. "Put the gun down," she spoke forcefully.

"Whoa," Dean held his hands up. "Sneaky. Didn't know you had it in you, Beth."

She gritted her teeth. "Pull the gun from your waistband and set it on the table."

"Alright, alright," he commented, but did what she said. "Can't we just talk about this?"

"I gave you the chance to listen downstairs, but you wouldn't, so…just slide the gun over."

He did that too. She picked up his gun and handed it to Mick just as she heard Sam's footsteps coming back down the stairs. She spun on her heel and while Mick kept Dean at bay, she forced Sam's gun away from him in the same manner.

"There's…rope under the sink," Mick told her when Sam was neutralized. After making Sam come to sit in the chairs opposite Mick with Dean, she handed Mick the second gun and took his with her to retrieve the rope and two of Mick's dining room chairs. He was able to hold both of them, but she knew he was quickly becoming weaker, especially when he cried out for her to hurry.

Forcing the guys at gunpoint to sit in the two chairs back-to-back on the other side of the coffee table, she tied them up and made sure she did a damn fine job. Dean kept making snide comments throughout the whole ordeal, but she did her best to ignore them.

Once they were secure, she could tend to Mick's needs, and she breathlessly asked him, "Where's the first aid kit?"

"In the kitchen – the drawer by the sink."

She ran to get that and ripped open some gauze to press against his bullet wounds. "What do I do, Mick?"

He grabbed her wrist with his free arm and told her, "You're going to have to get the bullets out. They're silver," he grimaced with pain.

"H-how?"

"Pliers," he explained. "In the toolbox. Under the sink"

She rushed over to retrieve the toolbox, dragged it out to set it on the counter, and dug through the tools until she found them. She hurried back when the realization of what she was about to do hit her. "Uh," she groaned, feeling her stomach flop with nausea. "I don't know if I can do this."

"You can do it, Beth. Just reach in and dig them out. I'll be fine." He tried to smile but it was weak. "Just like you did with the stake that time, okay?"

She tried to smile with the memory, but found it difficult. "Okay," she nodded, blinking to gather her courage. She lifted the gauze and felt another flip in her midsection, forcing it away so that she could focus. She could see one bullet close to the surface of its wound, so she dug into that one first, apologizing to him for the pain as she tugged at it until it was free. Setting that one on the table behind her, she soaked up the excess blood with the gauze and moved on to the second wound. "How could you do this to him?" she blurted out to the boys, only in part to make sure they were staying put while her back was turned and not just to distract her mind from what she was doing.

"It _had_ to be done," Dean replied, and she was relieved to hear his voice in the same location as before. "We didn't have a choice."

She pushed away the hair from her face with the back of her hand, realizing all at once that she was sweating. "You _always_ have a choice," she argued, just as she found the location of the second bullet when it tapped the tip of the pliers. And it was deep. Mick's moans were increasingly louder than with the first one as she worked to pull it out. Between apologies for hurting him, she cursed at Dean, "Why does your motto have to be 'shoot first and ask questions later'?!"

"It's a lot safer way of working in our business," he spoke calmly – exactly the opposite of her current anxiety. "Otherwise, _we_ might be the ones who get killed."

The second bullet free, Beth wiped her brow and took a deep breath to focus her full attention on Mick once more. "Now you need blood," she knew. "Is there some in the—"

He nodded. "In the cooler."

Disregarding how she must look to her former boyfriend with her hair damp and matted and disheveled, she dashed to Mick's secret cooler, carefully moving the glass out of the way to get to it, and came back with several pouches. "What do I do? Rip them open?"

"Give one to me," he instructed, and then with all he had, he tore off the end of the tube with his good arm. Beth had to help him squeeze it so that he could drink.

Dean scoffed. "Just look at yourself, Beth. Feeding blood to a vampire – it's not exactly a fairy tale."

"Shut up, Dean." She didn't even look over her shoulder at him while she worked to make Mick better.

"I'm just saying… If you're looking for romance, you found it in the wrong place."

"Oh, what? And what I had with you was better?"

"I never would've subjected you to _this_," he reiterated. He shook his head. "It amazing what foolish things someone does for love." Beth didn't reply, paying more attention at the moment at the way Mick didn't seem to be improving all that much – or at least not quickly enough to satisfy her. Sure, his wounds were healing as miraculously as they always did, slowly, but he was still weak. Dean was continuing to babble about something, but she did catch it when he said, "I'm right, right? You love him, don't you?"

Catching Mick's gaze as he drank, she held it and couldn't answer. And Dean then voiced her thoughts, "Of course you do. You wouldn't be sitting there, doing what you're doing if you didn't love him. I just have to wonder why."

She whipped her head around to glare at Dean. "You don't know anything about Mick or what he's done for us!"

"Oh yeah," he snorted sarcastically. "Like eating us for lunch."

She'd had enough and stood to her feet, still holding a pouch. "Shows what you know. He doesn't kill people and hasn't had a live feeding in more than twenty years. Why do you think he keeps a stash of these," she held up and shook the pouch, "in his house?!"

That shut up Dean, at least temporarily, and left him with a stunned expression on his face.

She knelt back down beside the couch and calmed once more, worrying so much more about him. "Why aren't you getting better?" she wondered out loud when his improvement was minimal.

He pulled the tube from his mouth. "Must be the syringe," Mick forced out. "He injected me with something."

"What?" Shocked, Beth stood up and stared at him for a moment, processing what he'd just informed her. "What did he give you?" she asked ridiculously, and then stormed over to Dean. Grabbing the front of his shirt, not hiding the fire in her eyes, she demanded to know, "_What did you give him?!_"

"Just a little something that drinking blood won't cure."

She let him go and backed off, stunned and scared. "How could you?" she whispered desperately, and then stood in the middle of the living room, her eyes darting back and forth, fretfully knowing that she just didn't have the knowledge required to make him better. She moved back to Mick's side, feeling tears forming in her eyes. "What do I do?" she asked as she knelt once more, holding onto Mick's hand with both of hers.

He covered her hands with his free one, blinked hard as if fighting unconsciousness, and spoke calmly, "Call Josef. Tell him to come…quick." She was practically already headed for his phone on the counter and was dialing before he even finished his sentence.

She quickly relayed Mick's condition and was relieved when Josef said that he was already on his way back. But she still told him to hurry. She didn't voice it, but she honestly didn't think Mick was going to hang on much longer. While she waited, she knelt back in her place on the floor, held Mick's hand and brushed his forehead with the other. "Hang in there," she whispered. "Don't leave me." She kissed his head, hoping that the intimate contact would encourage him to hold on a bit longer.

Josef let himself in several minutes later…but he wasn't alone. Coraline was right behind him, alive and well. When she saw her, Beth stood up in mild shock and fear and stepped back, but the other woman smiled slightly. "Hi, Beth," she stated simply and affably.

Hearing her voice, Mick lifted his head from the pillow an inch. "Coraline?" He was too weak to continue holding it up and rested once more. He peered at Josef over the back of the couch. "You found her?"

Josef came around the wall first, answering, "Yes, I was right about our mutual friend. He knew exactly where she was." Eyeing their prisoners almost hungrily from his position across the room, Josef asked, "What's the story with these two?"

"They're hunters," Beth proclaimed. "They gave Mick some kind of poisonous injection."

Obviously debating whether to take care of their prisoners first or concern himself with Mick's condition, he went with the latter, when it appeared the humans were tied and helpless. "Where's the syringe?" he asked Beth.

"I don't know," she realized, glancing around the room. "I didn't think to look— There," she pointed to a needle laying on the floor near the table on the edge of the room.

Josef retrieved it and held it to his nose, inspecting it. "Some kind of herbal combination," he told them. Then he rolled the syringe around in his fingers. "I've heard that there's a collection of herbs that, when combined, can kill a vamp, but…usually they don't get close enough to use it."

Beth lifted the cloth she'd had pressed against Mick's healing shoulder wounds.

"Oh, I see. Silver bullets, huh?" He smirked, "Works every time. Did you get them out?"

"Yes. And I gave him blood."

Josef smirked as he moved closer to examine the patient. "Fresh would've been better. Didn't you offer?" he teased Beth and she glared in response. But that didn't stop him from going on, "Isn't that what you usually do?"

"Mick's dying," she said seriously. "Joke later." She gazed down at Mick's weakened body. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Well," Josef said as he lowered his body to sit on the coffee table, "to be honest, I've never heard if there's a cure for that combination. Every one of our kind that has come up against it has…eventually died from it."

Fresh tears burned Beth's eyes. "Well, there must be _something_ we can do, to try…" she begged.

"There is something…" Coraline began, but Josef looked at her sharply.

"Coraline, no. Not now."

"Think about it, Josef. The blood would heal his wounds from the silver, and the rest is just…herbs, which are _harmless_ to humans. It makes sense."

Beth went from looking at Coraline standing behind Mick's head to Josef, who was being unusually reticent. "Uh, somebody care to fill me in?"

It was Mick who explained by weakly saying, "She's still human."

Darting her gaze back up to Coraline, Beth wondered, "How? I thought we agreed that she had to have turned back to have disappeared so quickly from the hospital."

"I did," Coraline confessed. "The mortal cure I have now is permanent."

There was a dead silence in the room for several seconds until Coraline prodded, "I could give it to Mick – it might just be the only thing that will save his life."

"Then let's do it," Beth exclaimed enthusiastically, but they didn't have all the votes just yet. Both women waited for Mick's thoughts on the matter.

With a temporary renewed sense of strength, Mick's eyes opened and locked with Beth's and he admitted, "I don't want to go yet. If there's a chance…" his voice cracked. "I never wanted to be a vampire."

With the bullets out and healing and Mick close to losing consciousness, Josef and Beth and Coraline all exchanged looks, trying to think what would be best for Mick, knowing that Josef would be the only voice of dissention among them. "Fine," Josef conceded when he knew he was outnumbered. "I wash my hands from whatever you decide to do." And he stepped out of the way to prove it.

Mick's breathing had slowed, his eyes were once again closed, and he looked pale. Determining that he was going to die if they did nothing, Beth nodded to Coraline. "Do it."

"Okay, give me some room," Coraline instructed, dropping her coat to the hall table. "I'll need a sharp knife."

Beth rushed over to the weapon box and set it on the table to open it, and came back just as Coraline was getting situated on the coffee table with a small, silver box in hand. She went about making a long cut on Mick's arm – Beth noticed with some horror that he didn't even flinch – and then spread something that looked like hamburger meat on the open wound. When she was done, she closed the box and sat back.

"That's it?" Beth asked, and Coraline nodded.

"It soaks in through the bloodstream and works from there, spreading out. Now we just have to wait to see if it helps."

She covered the cut with gauze and tape that Beth handed her, and then got up to move and make room for the other woman. But she didn't take the seat and instead knelt close to him once more where she had been before, holding his hand. Every few seconds, she'd feel for a pulse, but he was not only still and unmoving, but almost cold to the touch. If she hadn't had such hope that he would survive, she would've been sure that he was truly dead.

But after five minutes, she began to lose that hope she clung to, and the tears that had been threatening since she walked in and found him so wounded began to fall freely down her cheeks. Angry, she got up and stalked over to Dean, slapping him across the face. "You've killed him!"

"Hey!" he recoiled. "I'm sorry! If I'd known that you had such strong feelings for him, maybe I wouldn't have!" His tone changed, "But you can't blame me for doing my job, okay?"

"Your job? _Your job??_ Do you know what Mick made _his_ job for the last twenty years? Protecting _me_! He saved me when I was a little girl and he's been taking care of me ever since! I considered him my guardian angel – and you've just killed him! All because you think the only way to do your job is to kill those that are different than you. You're the judge, jury, and executioner all in one," she shook her head disgustedly.

"Hey, I said I was sorry!" he spoke just as loudly as she was. "I was actually rooting for that cure thing to work."

"Well, it obviously didn't," she began to cry harder. "And now, he's gone from my life forever."

She broke down then, sobbing into her hands as bent down and turned away from Dean. She was crying hard, so loudly that she didn't hear the faint calling of her name the first time. But the second time was louder and she immediately quieted when she heard Mick's voice saying, "Beth."

She sniffed and dried her eyes as her face turned toward the couch and she saw Mick reaching out for her with one hand, gesturing for her to come back. That's when she gasped and ran over to him, and knelt beside him, hugging him as best she could with his arms around her. She didn't even contemplate what exactly had transpired until she felt a soft rhythm in his chest beneath her cheek. He was _alive_.

Sitting up from Mick's chest, Beth touched his face and felt warmth and she searched his eyes as she mumbled, "Mick, you're…"

"Human," he finished for her and faintly smiled.

Without any hesitation and just a small gasp, Beth leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, kissing him triumphantly. Then she sat back on her heels to speak to Coraline, still clinging to Mick, sniffing and wiping her face. "Is he going to be okay? You said this was permanent?"

"It is," Coraline vowed. "After the hospital, I went back to working on the cure again, and within days, we'd figured out the missing ingredient to make it permanent. I was…planning to come over here to give it to Mick this evening when Josef found me."

"Wait," piped up Sam finally, after almost an hour of letting his brother speak and joke and pester them while they worked and waited. "Are you saying that you've actually created a permanent cure for vampirism?"

"Mm hmm," nodded Coraline affirmatively. "I borrowed the original, temporary sample from some other vamps and worked on it personally until I had the formula right."

"Why would you do that? I thought you vamps liked having immortality," Sam continued to question.

"We do, usually, but Mick didn't."

"So you did it for him?"

She nodded again.

Mick's strength was returning and he was able to sit up a little. And in the meantime, he was piecing what Coraline was saying all together with what he knew. "Wait a second, by 'borrowed', do you mean that you 'stole' the sample from Lance?"

Coraline's eyes widened. "How do you know that name?"

"He came to visit me earlier this evening."

Dean realized, "Oh, those three creepy dudes?" Four sets of eyes glared at him to shut him up. "Okay, sorry," he said, lifting his hands up defensively, even though they were still tied at the wrists.

"Who were they, Coraline?" Mick prodded.

Sighing, she sat down on the opposite arm of the couch and began to tell him the story of how she'd become a vamp, including the incredible tale of King Louis the Sixteenth's royal vampire bloodline, admitting reluctantly that she was part of it. Lance was her brother and someone who wanted to keep the cure locked away for good, and she'd gone boldly against him by stealing and modifying it. Dean and Sam were just as glued to the story as the others were, only butting in twice to clarify and confirm some of the almost unbelievable details.

"I'm going into hiding," Coraline confessed when she was through. "A new name, a new city… It's the only way I'm going to be able to live my life without him trying to take me back."

"Another 'Morgan'?" Mick asked pointedly, but she shook her head.

"I like photography, but 'Morgan Vincent' is dead. I'll have to start over."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dean interrupted. "Call me slow on the uptake, but are you saying that _you_ were Morgan Vincent?" They all nodded in confirmation. "See, Sam?" he tossed over his shoulder. "I told you that there was something otherworldly going on."

Sam rolled his eyes, but agreed. "Well, it seems our work here is done. We found the reason behind Morgan's disappearance, she's alive and well, and everybody seems happy, so…why don't you guys just let us go?"

"Yeah, right," Beth was the first to speak. "After what you did to Mick?"

"I said I was sorry," Dean replied, "and we're obviously not going to try to kill him now if he's human, so we'll just call it a draw and walk away."

"No, I don't think so," she retorted.

Josef concurred, "I'm inclined to agree with Beth."

"Let 'em go," Mick told them, getting everyone's attention. He sat up completely, swinging his feet to the floor, massaging and stretching his shoulder. But it was mainly Beth that he was speaking to, as he gently squeezed her hand in his. "If I'm not holding any grudges against them for what they did, why should you?"

"Well, since I'm the only immortal left in the room and the only one in danger of being eliminated by these two," Josef said, "I suppose that's my cue to leave."

"No, Josef, I don't think they'll be any problem to us now, especially since we have their weapons. Right, guys?"

Both Dean and Sam affirmatively agreed, not that they would've had much choice given the circumstances.

"Beth, please go ahead and release them," Mick requested and she reluctantly conceded. And she did so without looking Dean in the eye.


	6. Part 5

**Part 5:**

Fortunately, the boys knew their place and stood up cautiously, each rubbing at their wrists. Beth rejoined her friends and sat on the couch beside Mick. Dean appeared sheepish as he came to stand on the other side of the coffee table and said, "Sorry about, you know, shooting you and all. If we'd known about this cure…"

Sam nodded in concurrence with his brother, but had one question forming in his mind. "Yeah, it just makes me wonder: If this cure really works – which you've proven – why don't you use it too?" he asked of Josef.

Josef had been busy eyeing the two men warily, making sure they stuck to their word and didn't try to attack them once more. So Mick answered for him. "Josef is…one of the oldest vampires we know. I think he prefers it to mortality."

"How old _are_ you? If you don't mind me asking," Sam queried curiously.

"I do mind," Josef stated, leaving his reply at that. "But Mick is right – I don't think I could go back to a mundane human life at this point." He took a step toward them and crossed his arms. "And now I wonder what your plans are now for my fellow immortals."

The brothers looked to each other, shrugging, and Dean voiced their thoughts first. "Well, this has definitely been an educational experience."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "We've never come across vampires with _morals_ before. We'll be sure to take it one case at a time from now on."

"You know: Shoot first, ask questions, _then _eliminate them if necessary," Dean added. Then he wondered, "Are there many out there like you guys? You know, looking for a cure?"

"Not that I know of," Coraline replied. "I only wanted it for Mick's sake because I turned him against his will." She held up the small silver box. "Most vamps would probably see this as a threat to their existence…which is why I'm going to hide it."

Sam pointed out, "But this is revolutionary. I mean, if Dean and I could use it, we could save lives instead of having to kill vamps to stop them from killing humans."

Coraline started to open her mouth to protest, but she paused to think before giving her opinion. "Perhaps we can talk to work out a deal. For the most part, we have to keep this a secret. If those who oppose the cure find out about it, they might come after Mick or me or anyone else that has changed back."

A feeling of community settled in the room, as if the worlds between mortals and immortals were lining up in some sort of harmony. But a sneering, seething voice cut through their temporary contentment. It was coming from the top of the stairs. "Well, well, well, look at this. My dear sister giving away all our secrets." All eyes turned and watched as Lance sniffed the air, flanked on each side by his cohorts. "And as a human too," he spoke the word with distaste and his face took on an even more evil look than usual with his one eye that was solid black. "How disappointing."

The group was frozen, each mind racing as to how to go about defending themselves from this vampire and his two immortal lackeys. Josef was busy berating himself for being the only vampire in the room that _hadn't_ noticed the three intruders' entrance. It was then he realized that the click of the upstairs balcony door he'd faintly heard had been them and _not _that persistent bird that liked its own reflection.

Mick unconsciously drew Beth closer to his side, trying to shield her from them with his arm around her as if that would help. And he was wide-eyed, unblinking, waiting for them to make a move – not that he had any idea of what they would do then. As a vamp, he'd had a few options; as a human, he was as helpless as she was.

Knowing this truth, Josef stepped a few feet closer, purposely putting himself between the humans and the vamps. "You're Lance, right?" he asked, trying to keep the tension on even ground. "I've heard about you."

"Josef Kostan," Lance replied, walking down two more steps, followed immediately by his companions. It was clear that Lance wasn't going to allow Josef to have the upper hand in the conversation by being unknown. "I have a respect for your age, Josef. I don't want to have to kill you to get what I came for."

Mick stood, pulling Beth up with him, still shielding her with his body, and began slowly guiding her toward his office as Josef moved to the foot of the stairs, chatting with the other immortal as if to distract him. Once Mick and Beth had cleared the couch, he tugged Coraline's sleeve to get her to come as well.

Meanwhile, Dean and Sam were eyeing the table where Beth had stashed their guns that they could use in this situation. They were just in front of the couch and the table was behind it, but if they moved even a little bit, they knew they'd be toast. They had to wait for just the right moment.

Josef had questioned what it was Lance had come for, pretending he didn't know, just to stall for time for the others to get in position. It was unlikely that the situation would be resolved without a fight, and they all knew it. And just before Mick could get the three of them safely behind the door to his office, Lance lunged for Josef to knock him out of the way first, and threw him to his two guard dogs while he made a beeline for Coraline hiding behind Mick.

His teeth bared, Josef fought with his assailants, tossing one aside, just as the Winchesters grabbed for their guns and made sure they were loaded. But the tossed vamp saw what they were doing and jumped toward them, grabbing Sam and knocking him to the ground along with the gun in Dean's hand, several feet the other direction. With his hands around the vamp's neck, Sam fought to hold him off. Dean grabbed a vase and hit him on the back of the head, breaking it into tiny pieces. Nothing happened and the immortal continued to attack. "Dean! Do something!!" Sam pleaded through clenched lips.

"I'm trying!" Dean tripped over his brother and rushed to the crawl under the long table where his gun had slid to retrieve it; Sam's gun had disappeared.

On the other side of the room and as soon as Lance had made the first move, Mick had darted into the office, pushing the women in first, but he didn't get the door shut in time. Beth ran and hid behind the desk, dragging Coraline with her, but once Lance had hit Mick enough to have him dazed, he came after his sister with a vengeance. The girls backed up against the wall of windows in fear; Beth saw her love on the other side of the room bleeding and staggering to stand up, and wished she could help him instead of cowering in fear as she was.

There were several shots in the living room and Lance spun around to see one of his cohorts recoil and slam against the side of the stairs before sliding to the ground. He growled, but when Josef's adversary left him to tend to his friend, he chuckled meanly and turned back to Coraline. "Now you see what's happened? Why must it come to this, dear sister, when all I want is that cure?"

"You can't have it," she proclaimed. "You'll destroy it."

"It's mine to destroy, if that's what I wish."

Beth spoke up, "If she gives it to you, will you let her go?"

Lance laughed as if he couldn't believe he was entertaining conversation from mere humans. "No," he didn't bother hiding. He glared at his sister. "Coraline has debts to pay."

Three more shots rang out; this time, getting more of Lance's attention when he knew he could be the only one left against all of them. But before he'd even turned around completely, Josef had successfully tackled him to the ground and the two began to tussle. Beth used the opportunity to rush to Mick's side and make sure he was okay, and then she hurried the three of them back out of the room and out of harm's way of the two wrestling vampires.

Mick lowered his body to the couch, clutching his sore head with one hand while Beth assessed the room. "Where's Sam?" she asked as Dean reloaded his gun with more silver bullets.

"I sent him down to the car to get more of that herbal concoction." He shrugged. "We figured you guys at least wouldn't want these three to live."

"Beheading is faster," Mick pointed out. Using her tail of her shirt, Beth dabbed at Mick's forehead wound and discovered that it wasn't very deep and it had already stopped bleeding.

"I know," Dean was saying, "but… Sam doesn't really go for that anymore, since he had to use barbed wire to behead a friend who'd been turned."

Mick grimaced, picturing that in his mind, and they all suddenly jumped with the sound of a crash in the office. Armed and ready, Dean headed for the doorway, studied the ongoing fight in the room, and disappeared out of their line of sight. Sam opened the front door and hurried inside with a bundled up shirt and set it down on the table, opening it to reveal three more syringes full of the stuff they needed to end the vamps' lives in the most humane way they knew how.

The vampire lying by the stairs was still conscious but mostly out of commission with two wounds to his chest and a third in his neck. Sam injected him and tossed the syringe over his shoulder to deal with the other one, and soon, he too was on his way to a slow but mostly painless death.

Josef and Lance were still fighting, banging against the walls now and then, shoving the furniture out of the way, knocking things down; Dean was stuck in the corner, trying to find a good shot at Lance, but was starting to get frustrated. Finally, knowing that silver bullets wouldn't kill either of them, he took a shot and another and another, until the two stilled.

The four humans in the other room listened and watched intently to see who would emerge from the office first. Dean stuck his head out and gestured for his brother to come in with the last syringe. "One more in here, bro."

Mick stood up with the intent to walk over to the door to check on the status of his friend, when Josef came out of the office, clutching his arm. He made eye contact with each of them, conveying that he was alright, and then told Beth, "Nice shot, that friend of yours."

There were traces of pain and humor in his tone, and when he moved his hand from his arm, they knew he'd been hit. Mick checked out his wound, commenting, "Looks like it went right through."

"Well, that's good news. Still _hurts_ like hell."

"I'll get you some blood," Beth offered, and moved toward the kitchen to do so.

The brothers walked back into the room, just as Beth was handing Josef a pouch of blood.

Stepping forward, Coraline asked hesitantly about her brother. "Is he…dead?"

"No," Sam replied. "Not yet. It'll take a little bit of time."

Without hesitation, she went back into the room, presumably to speak to her brother for the last time. The rest of them knew just to give her the time she needed to say her goodbyes. Still, Dean warned, "Don't get too close."

Josef walked over to sit in a chair and Beth took the pouch from him to help him rip it open. Then she went to sit on the arm of the couch next to Mick where he was chatting with the boys.

Dean was saying, "We're used to leaving our dead bodies where they lay, but since this is your apartment…"

Mick nodded. "We'll take care of the cleanup. In fact, you should probably go before it's discovered that you were the ones responsible for Lance's death. Josef and I will take the rap."

"No, _I _will," Josef disagreed and they all turned to look behind Mick at his friend. He explained, "You're no longer a vampire, Mick. Explaining to the cleaner what happened here tonight will not be possible for you anymore. You should be far from here as well."

"You can come to my place," Beth offered unthinkingly, and then blushed when all the male eyes looked at her. "I mean, you know, until it's safe to come back."

"It may never be safe here for you again," Josef went on as he stood up again; his wound was already healed. "Once word gets out, Lance and Coraline's other brothers might come to seek revenge."

"You're saying I should move?" Mick questioned.

With a nod, Josef offered, "And I just happen to know of a vamp that's currently homeless…"

Mick sensed what Josef was alluding to and he smirked, "You want my apartment."

Josef shrugged. "It's not a bad place, okay neighborhood; and you already have a freezer that you're not going to use anymore."

Rolling his eyes, Mick answered, "Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about it."

Coraline reappeared with her eyes red and teary from crying. "It's over," she announced. "He's getting weaker, and even with all of our disagreements, I can't sit and watch my brother die."

Standing, Mick reached out for his former wife and gently pulled her in close until he was hugging her. Beth stood beside them both, comfortingly placing a hand on Coraline's shoulder in silent emotional support.

"Well, I hate to break up the festivities," Josef concluded with his usual sardonic tone, "but rotting immortal flesh will not do well for the resale value of this apartment."

"Yes," Coraline stood up again, drying her face. "I need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Josef amended, "All of you need to leave, since I'm the only one of our kind left here. So, if you'll make your goodbyes short…" he gestured with both hands as if shooing them to the door.

Beth turned to her old college boyfriend and half-smiled. "Dean, thank you for helping us out tonight. I don't know what we would've done…"

"All in a day's work," he joked. Then he eyed Mick. "It definitely worked out a lot differently than I thought it would."

She shared a look with Mick and had to agree. "Yes, it did," she murmured, leaning into him as he wrapped his arm around her.

Dean took a step back, heading for the door, and stopped to ask curiously, "Just answer one thing: did you fall in love with him _after_ you knew he was a vampire?"

"Yeah," she shrugged, admitting it openly. "It was the only way he could've saved me as a child and serve as my protector as I was growing up, and that's part of what attracted me to him."

"Amazing," Dean shook his head, speaking sarcastically. It was clear that he was still just a tad jealous.

Retracting his arm from Beth so that he could shake hands with the other two men, Mick spoke gratefully, "Again, thank you for your help tonight."

"Yeah," Dean remarked as he shook his offered hand. "And I'm sorry about the whole attack, you know…" he bobbed his head childishly.

"Yeah, I do. Good thing it all worked out," he teased, and then turned his attention to the younger brother. "Sam," he shook his hand as well, "it's been interesting."

"I'll say," Sam laughed. "Coraline, if you need some help disappearing, Dean and I have some experience with that. And maybe we could discuss getting some of that cure from you…?"

She nodded in agreement, and then hurriedly said farewell to Mick, Beth, and Josef, not knowing when or if she'd ever be able to come back or see them again. Then the Winchesters and Coraline walked out together.

Beth and Mick turned to Josef and hesitated leaving him to deal with things alone. "You have to get out of here, too," Josef reminded them. "Come on, stop with the long faces. I know that you two are just itching to be alone after tonight's events."

Mick was still concerned. "Are you _sure _you can handle this okay by yourself?"

"Please," Josef scoffed, putting his hands on his hips. "I'm going to enjoy taking the _credit_ for this."

Chuckling because he knew that his friend would _jump _at the chance to take responsibility for eliminating that menace, Lance, Mick clasped his friend's hand and then gave him a friendly one-armed hug. "I'll come by tomorrow to discuss the apartment. But for now, my house is yours."

Josef smiled. "Yup."

"Stay out of my files," Mick warned with a pointed finger of warning, and then he walked with Beth to the door after she too had hugged Josef goodbye and thanked him for his help.

The couple walked side-by-side to the elevator and except for the guiding of his hand in the small of her back as they walked through his apartment door, they didn't touch either. Beth was starting to feel anxiety building up inside of her, mainly because she hadn't once heard what Mick thought about anything she'd admitted throughout the evening. Yes, she was in love with him, but had she jumped ahead of herself by believing that he felt the same way? Now that he was human again, would he even _want _to waste his time with her anymore?

By the time they reached the lobby, she was a bundle of nerves. She was trying to come up with a casual question to start the conversation, knowing that confirming that they were going to go to her apartment was a good place to begin, but finding it difficult to get her tongue to form words. She was ready to give up, convincing herself that they were just friends and would _always _be 'just friends' as they stepped outside onto the sidewalk, when he suddenly grabbed her hand, pulled her into the alley into his arms, and kissed her completely. She fell into it, feeling the tension melting away from her body with the tingling sensation that traveled all the way down to her toes. In just that one kiss, she'd become jell-o in his arms. She was thankful that he had her pressed against the wall of his building and he was holding her up completely, or else, she might've crumbled to the ground.

When they parted, Beth found it difficult to force her eyes to open, but when they did, she was staring up at his loving gaze on her. "For the record," he mumbled huskily, "I love you too."

"You do?" she smiled, slipping her arms more securely around his neck. "When you didn't say anything…"

"I wasn't going to in front of everyone. I wanted to share this moment with _you_, not them."

She was pleased with his answer, but searched his eyes with one more question on her mind. "How long?"

"How long have I wanted to tell you? Or, how long have I loved you?"

"Both," she grinned completely.

"Since you walked back into my life, and stole my heart all over again."

She kissed him for that answer.

He went on, "I'm just glad I can now share my life with you. I'm human again."

He was laughing blissfully and Beth joined in, hugging him tight. "How does it feel?" she asked with her head over his shoulder.

"Amazing," he pulled back to cup her face. He stroked her cheek with his thumb, adding, "Even touching you feels different. And so much better."

She turned her head to kiss the palm of his hand, and questioned, "Well, what do you want to do first? Get something to eat?"

He shook his head, thinking. "Let's go for a walk."

"A walk? Aren't you tired?"

Shaking negatively, she knew he must still be in a sort of shock and the reality hadn't quite hit him yet. But he was also going to enjoy every second of it, no matter what. He stepped back and reached for her hand, lacing his fingers with hers and smiling for all he was worth. "All I need and want right now is to go to the beach and stay there to watch the sun rise," he told her, "...just to be with you."

_The End_

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A/N: I've always felt that I suck at writing action, so if you made it through the whole fic, thank you. Comments are love!


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